Masdar City is a planned zero-carbon, zero-waste city in Abu Dhabi, UAE that will rely entirely on renewable energy. The city is being developed to minimize energy and water usage through sustainable design principles including solar orientation, efficient buildings, district cooling and heating, and water recycling. Transportation within Masdar City will utilize electric vehicles and personal rapid transit systems to reduce emissions. Once completed, Masdar City aims to house 50,000 residents and 1,500 cleantech companies in a self-sufficient, car-free urban environment powered solely by renewable energy.

1. Amity School Of Architecture & Planning
Amity University, Uttar Pradesh
Sustainability – Masdar City, Abu Dhabi (U.A.E)
Jatin Garg
B.PLAN (2011-15)

2. Overview
 Sustainability
 Principles of Sustainability
 Introduction to Masdar City
 Land Use Plan
 Design & Plan
 Energy Management
 Water Management
 Transportation
 Construction
 Landscaping
 Conclusion

3. Sustainability… capacity to endure
• The term describes how biological
systems remain diverse and
productive over time.
• Sustainable development, basically,
refers to the development that
takes place without effecting the
needs of future generation.
• A sustainable city (eco-city) is a city
designed with consideration of
environmental impact, inhabited by
people dedicated to minimization
of required inputs of energy, water
and food, and waste output of
heat, air pollution - CO2, methane,
and water pollution.

4. Sustainable Principles

5. Masdar (the source)
• Masdar City is an arcology project in Abu Dhabi, in the U.A.E.
• It is being built by Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) &
planned to be completed by 2030.
• Designed by the British architectural firm Foster and Partners and
engineering and environmental consultancy Mott MacDonald, the city
will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources,
with a zero waste ecology.
• The city is designed to be a hub for cleantech companies.

6. Location
Masdar City is being
constructed 17
kilometres (11 mi) south-
east of the city of Abu
Dhabi, beside Abu Dhabi
International Airport.

7. Land Use
Plan
- Masdar Institute of
Science and Technology
- Commercial
- Light Industry
- Residential
- Car parking
- Entertainment
- Green spaces

8. Design & Plan
• Planners recognised that the biggest environmental gains come from
some of the most passive, and least expensive, tools: the city’s (and
buildings’) orientation (with regards to the sun and prevailing winds)
and its form.
• Next most effective is building performance optimisation, such as an
efficient envelope and systems, and smart building management.
• Active controls, such as renewable energy, are the most expensive,
while offering the lowest relative environment-impact returns. That’s
why designers first concentrated on orientation and performance
optimisation, thereby reducing a large amount of energy demand with
little cost, and only subsequently looked at what active controls could
be implemented.

10. Masdar City minimises energy consumption by deploying best
commercially available international energy efficient techniques and
setting stringent building efficiency guidelines in areas such as
• insulation,
• low-energy lighting specifications,
• the percentage of glazing (i.e., windows)
• optimizing natural light,
• installing smart appliances, ex: building management systems
• a citywide energy management system that interacts to manage the
electrical load on the grid – all along the system, from the utility to
the consumer.
Energy Management

11. Savings
• Energy efficient
design
• Energy generation
from renewable
resources
• Waste converted to
energy
• Transportation
• Sequestration
• 100% Powered by
renewable energy
• 170 MW
Photovoltaics
• <30 KW per capita
per day energy use
• (9x less than USA)

12. Water
Management
• Masdar city’s water needs are less
than half of a city like Abu Dhabi i.e.
145 ltr/person/day as compared to
350 ltr/person/day BAU.
• However, this does not include
water required for district cooling,
which could double the amount of
water required by the city.
• To achieve these lower
consumption figures, the city is
using highly efficient fittings, fixtures
and appliances, smart water metres
that inform consumers of their
consumption, and smart metres to
identify leakage across the system
are already in use.
• Master plan was to desalinate
groundwater with solar energy, but
for now water is piped in from one
of Abu Dhabi's gas-fired, high-
energy, desalination plants.

13. Water Grid

14. Water Grid

15. Masdar City is piloting
• pedestrian focused community
• sustainable transportation solutions,
• a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) (Level3)
• a Freight/Light Rapid Transit (FRT/LRT)
system (Level1)
Masdar City also has initiated an electric
car pilot with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
to test a point-to-point transportation
solution for the city that uses Mitsubishi
Motor’s i-MiEV, five-door hatchbacks
Transportation

16. Circulation Map

17. Construction Material
• Water-based paints that
have no volatile organic
compound, which harm
human health
• Reinforcing bars made of
100% recycled steel
• Green concrete that used ground
granulated blasted slag to replace
cement, resulting in a reduction
of the concrete carbon footprint
by 30-40% of CO2

18. • The houses and shops
have thick walls made of
dried coral and gypsum
that absorb heat during
the day, releasing it slowly
at night.
• 100% sustainably sourced
timber
• 90% recycled-content
aluminium used for the inner
façade

19. Landscaping
• Balanced land use with high
density living,
• Vernacular based landscape
strategy using local species for
reduced irrigation demands,
• Consolidated open spaces and
recreational areas
• Vegetation landscapes will create
a habitat for endangered species
and generate air movement to
public areas

20. • Vertical farming is to
minimize transport and
food chilling emissions –
fresh vegetables fruit and
grains will be grown in
specially designed
greenhouses and
attached farms.
• Entire project has been
constructed on a north -
east axis – which offers
the best options for
naturally utilizing
shading and breezes.
• A diagonal orientation
Narrow streets and
shaded alleyways
minimize solar gain and
glare

21. Present Construction Scenario
Projected Views

22. • At the moment, it seems like a
theme park for the rich. In
order to be Sustainable, it
should also justify itself
financially.
• The result feels a bit like
Disneyland. Mr. Foster
acknowledged “Disneyland is
attractive because all the
service is below ground. We
do the same here — it is
literally a walled city.
Traditional cars are stopped at
the edges.”
Conclusion

23. • The new development, being
built on the outskirts of Abu
Dhabi city, will run almost
entirely on energy from the
sun and will use just 20
percent as much power as a
conventional city of similar size.
• Masdar City will eventually be
a base for international
companies, academics and
researchers and marketers.
• Planners predict that the
development will attract 1,500
clean-tech businesses, ranging
from large international
corporations to startups, and
eventually some 50,000
residents.

24. thank you…